This is one of the letters found in the bog prior to 1960.
TJ is in London. The news includes: shipping eggs to TJ; a visit
to Killynure; reference to land dispute involving OLIVERs;
construction starting at Kiltabeen; hopes for David JACKSON
to start at HSBC and having worked at JOHNSTONs; Minnie's health
after childbirth.NAMES: Rev. REID of Newtownhamilton; Rev. McCLELLAND of Newtownhamilton; John DONALDSON; Andrew Bradford OLIVER; Mary Jane OLIVER; Benjamin OLIVER; David JACKSON; John JOHNSTON; Amelia DARE. Amy Oliver JACKSON & Edith Bradford JACKSON. PLACE: Killynure; Kiltabeen.
Sharon Oddie Brown, October 4, 2006 Updated footnotes - January 17, 2010

Urker June 8th 1874

My dear Tom,

My
mind was much relieved by hearing from your letter received yesterday
that all with you was going on well. I was so uneasy that I was determined
to telegraph this day, in case I did not hear from you previously.
I feared you were ill yourself, when you did not write.

Our
friend Mr Reid
[1]
is to supply 1st Newtown Hamilton some
Sabbath shortly; and I intend to send to meet him there; and get
him to extract a proper certificate of your baptism. Mr McClelland
[2]
would probably be offended if fault was found to
the one he gave.

I
hope the box has reached you safely. If they tumbled it upside down,
the eggs might be broken; though Johnny Donaldson
[3]
picked all carefully.

I
hope to go to Killynure
[4]
tomorrow; and shall write you all my news either
from there, or when I return. We will do our best to avoid the “sharks” if
possible but your late correspondent is the very lad
[5]
who would fling us among them, if he had the means.
Your resolution to leave his letter unanswered is perfectly right,
and for your life, do not give him a shilling. Anything he can lay
hands on, is surely spent either on [law?] or whiskey. The other
two brothers; though they were not what they should have been yet
had some redeeming qualities but this one is an unmitigated brute.
This is the truth; but Aunt Mary
[6]
does not like to hear it. I was puzzled to think
how he got your London address. Ben
[7]
must have given it to him for surely no one else
would..

The
turnip sowing will be finished today, and tomorrow the drawing of
building materials for Kiltabeen
[8]
will commence. Brick, stones and such are bargained
for and a contract made with the carpenter. I hope that poor desolate
being
[9]
; who has been forsaken by her nearest and dearest;
will have a house by November next.

Is
there any word of David
[10]
being called on to join the Bank? Oh if he could
have this business learned before you return to Yokohama; and then
go out to be under your own eyes; how happy it would make me! But
perhaps it could not be. They might not like two brothers to be in
the same concern. He is a smart boy, and I think will be fit for
business. I regret that he did not spend the last month in Johnston’s
[11]
. He improved more there, than he did any where
else. But we thought he would be called on ere this.

I
hope dear Minnie
[12]
will improve steadily; and not suffer any relapses.
You did not say how the twins
[13]
are being fed. I hope God will spare all the blessings
He has sent you. You had a merciful escape, that you did not lose
your wife; which would have left you a sad heart to the last day
of your life. Think how it would have been, had she been taken ill
on the voyage; Mother and children would probably have been lost.
Think of this and be thankful.

[2]
Rev. McCLELLAND of Newtownhamilton (the church where Sir Thomas JACKSON
was baptised by his uncle Daniel Gunn BROWNE). It is possible that the children were baptised here because Daniel Gunn BROWNE was their uncle, but it could as easily been for doctrinal reasons See Eliza JACKSONs opinions in her letter of June 1. 1874.

[5 NOTE: This is possibly Andrew Bradford OLIVER (1818-1877) a
brother of Mary Jane & Eliza).(see letter October 15, 1874). This is on the heels of the death of their brother William OLIVER (abt1810-1873), who died a bachelor.

[7]
Benjamin OLIVER, son of Andrew Bradford OLIVER & Anne HANNA. I suspect he would have been born aft. 1843 (the marriage of his parents), but I know nothing about him. His sister Martha went to Australia and it may be that he went there too. HIs brother William OLIVER was already dead in 1867 (he was the one who "left this country for this country's good").

[8]
Kiltabeen is also spelled “Kiltebane” and Kiltybane”. I need to run down who lived there

[9]
Probably Elizabeth Johanna DONALDSON
nee JACKSON. I am unsure why Eliza never names her in all various letters.

She shows up in Griffiths Valuation at Kiltybane, Parish of Newtownhamilotn as leasing 43 acres including a "Herds house, ofice and land" from James EASTWOOD..

[10]
David JACKSON (1855-1903) a younger brother of Sir Thomas JACKSON –
he would be 19 years old at the time of this letter. Given that
David did not join HSBC until 1877 (three years later) it appears
that Eliza’s pleading was in vain.

[11]
John JOHNSTON of Woodvale, Ballsmill, owned 79 acres in the 1876 Landowners list. He was also a Justice of the Peace and a Land Agent. NOTE: This is the most likely JOHNSTON out of many. SEE: Woodvale History from DeedsThere
is later mention of a JOHNSTON who was a land agent.

[12]
Amelia Lydia DARE (1851-1944), wife of Sir Thomas JACKSON. Given the date of
the illness, it may have been related to the after-effects of childbirth (she gave birth
to twins on May 27th, 1874).